70-Year-Old Athlete Makes
Coast-to-Coast Bike Trip
After Double Hip Replacement
By
Kathy Katella, Freelance Writer
Ken
Ball didn't take the typical summer vacation this year. Instead he
celebrated his 70th birthday by bicycling 3,600 miles from Oregon to
New Hampshire, traversing the Rocky Mountains in the process.
The trek
would have been a feat for any athlete, let alone one of
septuagenarian vintage. But the real kicker is that Ball made the ride
on artificial hips.
The
retired engineer from Great Britain, who lives in Rye, N.Y., underwent
bilateral hip replacement six years ago with Kristaps Keggi, MD at the
Orthopaedic Center at Waterbury Hospital. Three years after receiving
his new hips Ball made his first cross-country bike trip. This past
summer he made yet another trek.
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Dedicates ride to Keggi Orthopaedic Foundation
To show his appreciation for his second
lease on life, Ball dedicated this summer's ride to the Keggi
Orthopaedic Foundation, a 14-year-old nonprofit organization
dedicated to providing education, research and technological
innovation to orthopaedic patients worldwide. The
private foundation also supports a physician/nursing
medical exchange program between the republics of the former
Soviet Union, the Baltic countries, Waterbury Hospital and the
Yale School of Medicine's Department of Orthopaedics and
Rehabilitation. Some 300 surgeons and 100 nurses have participated
in program since its inception in 1988. The Foundation also
supplies equipment, implants and humanitarian aid to the former
Soviet Union.
Ball
raised thousands of dollars for the Keggi Foundation, which Dr.
Keggi described as a "gift from the heart. Ken Ball is a success
story who believes that everyone in this world deserves the same
level of surgical expertise that he received." |
Ball
credits his relentless energy to his active lifestyle and positive
attitude. Running helped keep him fit, until arthritic hip pain slowed
him down. Determined not to be sidelined, he took up biking.
Eventually though, the arthritis became so advanced that even walking
any distance became difficult. A colleague suggested he see Dr. Keggi,
an international leader in the field of hip replacement. Ball
underwent minimally invasive anterior hip replacement, a procedure
that uses small incisions, speeding recovery. Dr. Keggi pioneered
minimally invasive anterior hip replacement, performing over 6,000
since 1972. Waterbury Hospital's Center is one of the busiest joint
replacement services in New England, with over 600 elective major
joint replacements in 2002.
Back
on the bike in five weeks
It's
probably no accident that Ball recovered so well from his surgery. "I
was in good health, physically," he said. "I was mentally prepared. I
had complete confidence in my surgeon." Four days after surgery he was
climbing stairs. Five weeks later he was back on his bike.
As a
reward for having the surgery done, Ball bought himself a new bike,
and he rode it the next year from Los Angeles to Boston to raise money
for a charity that helps the homeless and hungry. "Since then, each
day outdoors — cycling, golfing, hiking, swimming, gardening, house
repairing — has been a blessing," Ball says with a colorful British
accent.
Giving
back is what Ball has on his mind these days. "I really owed something
to Dr. Keggi and the Hospital. And I strongly believe in the work that
the Keggi Foundation is doing."
How did
the second cross-country trip compare with the first? "The hills get a
little higher every year," said Ball, but the pleasure remains.
To learn more about your options for
minimally invasive hip replacement
contact us. |
